title: There is no alternative medicine.
abstract: The term 'alternative medicine' is a misnomer because it suggests that there are two kinds of medicine alternative to each other. Although commonly used, the term is problematic. It escapes a meaningful definition, and 'alternative medicine' cannot be clearly differentiated from 'conventional medicine'. The nature of 'alternative' in 'alternative medicine' is anything but clear. In addition, bundling all the so-called alternative therapies under one heading is misleading. Due to the purely rhetoric nature of the 'alternativity', there seems to be no such thing as 'alternative medicine' in any meaningful sense.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland. pekka.louhiala@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Louhiala
mesh_terms: D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000266:history*; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history*; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D009626:Terminology as Topic